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CWU softball players Liz Wallace, left, and Mallory Holtman carry Western Oregon outfielder Sara Tucholsky around the bases after an unfortunate injury kept Tucholsky from running the bases under her own power. The story has gained national attention. Blake Wolf/special to the Daily Record
For the Daily Record
ELLENSBURG – The story of the Central Washington University softball team and its act of sportsmanship this past Saturday is receiving national attention.
The story of how Wildcat first baseman Mallory Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace helped Western Oregon outfielder Sara Tucholsky around the bases after an unfortunate injury during her home run trot was first told on ESPN.com on Monday. Since the story broke on ESPN’s Web site, phone calls and e-mails from numerous media outlets have poured in, as have generic e-mails from across the country complimenting the Wildcat student-athletes on their act of sportsmanship.
Jonathan Gordon, director of Athletic Media Relations at Central, said the story has grown into the biggest news event he’s dealt with at the school — surprisingly so. It was mentioned in the seventh paragraph of CWU’s 11-paragraph press release on the game.
Gordon did not contact ESPN, but by Sunday morning he’d received his first call from an online columnist with ESPN.com. And the calls have just kept on coming. This morning Gordon started fielding calls at 7 a.m. — an hour before he regularly reports to work — and didn’t event get a chance to catch his breath until 9 a.m.
“The attention is awesome for the university,” he said.
When asked why the story had taken off Gordon said he thought that the CWU players’ act of kindness and sportsmanship struck a chord with a nation hungering for good news.
“My opinion is that the way society is these days, you don’t see a lot of positive stories like this,” he said. “Even at a small school like this, it’s kind of justice, so to speak, that something positive can get the media attention.

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Tags: sara, tucholsky